Jamaican Music

More than any tourism campaign, Jamaica’s music has spread word of the island throughout the world, reaching people with its pulsating rhythms and lyrics, which can range from romantic to rebellious.

The first commercial music of the island was mento, a sound brought to Jamaica from Africa generations earlier. Mento first became popular in the 1950s with groups like Pork Chops Rumba Box Band of Montego Bay and The Ticklers. Today many resort visitors are greeted in hotel lobbies by three- and four-man mento bands who play island tunes to incoming guests. Mento bands usually include a banjo player, a performer shaking maracas, and a rumba box player. The rumba box is a homemade thumb piano; the player sits on the wooden box and thumps metal strips which, through a circular hole in the box, reverberate and give the music its distinctive beat.

In the late 1950s, mento evolved into ska, a sound that emphasized guitar strings strummed on the upbeat, rather than the downbeat. Ska quickly gathered a large following thanks to performers such as Jimmy Cliff, Don Drummond, Roland Alphanso, Lloyd Knibbs, Theophilus Beckford, Chuet Johnson, and, most famously, the Skatalites. Ska later developed into a style known as “rock steady,” named for the Alton Ellis hit “Rock Steady” in 1966. Lyrics became more sociopolitical in tone, a move that paved the way for Jamaica’s next new sound: reggae.

Both mento and ska (as well as calypso, the music born in the southern Caribbean, especially Trinidad) created reggae, Jamaica’s best known export. The king of reggae remains, even decades after his death, Bob Marley, who has inspired generations of reggae musicians and turned the eyes and ears of the world to this island.

Although reggae continued to remain popular, Jamaica’s musical tradition continued to evolve. In the early 70s, dub developed, emphasizing drums, bass, and a heavily processed track of vocals or sound effects, techniques that went on to influence hip hop.

Dancehall eventually became the top sound, mixing the political overtones of reggae with often sexually explicit lyrics. Dancehall performers include Yellowman, Shabba Ranks, Wayne Smith, Echo Minott, and Pad Anthony.

Today dancehall remains a popular sound in local clubs although it has drawn sharp criticism locally and internationally for its anti-homosexuality lyrics. In resorts, however, reggae rules with the familiar tunes of Bob Marley heard at almost every hotel on the island. Reggae also continues to rule the island’s music festivals thanks to Montego Bay’s Sumfest. Jazz continues to draw a large following as well thanks to June’s Ocho Rios Jazz Festival and January’s Air Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival.